I certainly wasn't expecting to see Miyuki vs. Zombies, much less an evil yandere Miyuki. We've got the opening video for the upcoming Lucky Star: Net Idol Meister PSP game waiting for you after the jump, where it looks like this rhythm game/Idolmaster parody should be fun for most Lucky Star fans.

The game hits Japanese shelves on December 24th, so all the otaku can have something to do on Christmas Eve besides get laid. If you're looking to get the special edition -- because what fan wouldn't -- it's going to set you back 8,190 yen. So beware.

This might be one of those titles I pick up the next time I'm at Otakon, since I'm sure some of the importers will have it there. Any of you looking to try this?

We recently got word from Bandai admitting that there were some problems with the production of the second volume of the Lucky Star manga, and so Volume 2 will be hitting store shelves this Tuesday, followed up shortly by Volume 3 making its way into stores the very next month in December.

Now it'll be all the easier to get your Lucky Star fix, eh? You'll have to wait until February for Vol. 4, though, as things go back to their normal production schedule.

And now that you know what'll be happening with the manga, it's time for what you've all been waiting for: a gallery of Lucky Star images. Mostly ones of my waifu.

You think Dale and Colette had the market cornered on confessing their love? Think again.

Hey, Kagami? I don't mean to be troublesome, but would you mind helping me out with some of this homework? I mean, it's not like you've got any clubs to worry about today -- what were you going to do, go to Animate with Konata?

I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Please? I'll buy you lunch. C'mon, you pick the spot, I'll pay. Yes, even there. In fact, that might not be bad -- it'll give us a chance to talk a bit more. I mean, we rarely get to during the school day. You're always running over to see your friends as soon as you get the first chance.

I've actually found it fairly hard to be tempted by the majority of anime-based games that come out in Japan. Most of them are shills or mini-games that don't really hold any meat or wow factor to them that would convince me to spend $70 on a PSP game. But after reading about Lucky Star: Net Idol Meister, I may have to change my tone for this one.

A clear parody of the hit series Idolmaster, Net Idol Meister has you managing a group of girls, attempting to make one of them a true net idol. Taking your girls to Akiba, Bukuro, the characters' hometown, and the Internet, you'll go through a number of mini-games in order to send your girl to the top. So, I guess it's still a set of mini-games, but with the clear goal of raising an idol, it's all the more appealing.

What really caught my eye was the art style for the game. It's got a more fun and playful appearance than the "normal" drawings of the characters -- and reminds me a bit more of the manga, so it's something new for the eyes to see. We'll see how the game is, though, when it comes out on Christmas Eve of this year in Japan.

Oh, and I'll totally buy the Toradora PSP game, simply because you can get an ending with a pregnant Taiga. I'm sure plenty of you have homebrewed PSPs (I never bothered to do so), and so have you taken the opportunity to try out many anime games? Are there any that you can recommend?

Yutaka Yamamoto, affectionately nicknamed as Yamakan (either as a conjunction of his family and given name, or as a conjunction of his last name and the title of director--kantoku), was a stallion at Otakon 09. Unlike the average Japanese anime production guest, he is full of opinions and is not afraid to share them.

Read on and see selected questions and answers, paraphrased and transcribed by both yours truly and Bayoab, as asked to the animation director of Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, and the generally ex-Kyoto Animation know-it-all, all told at Otakon 2009. The questions were taken across three of the panels Yamakan guested in, and are arranged vaguely by topic...

I love my waifu as much as the next covetous man, but damn, spending $14,100 on her? At least let her do something that deserves that sort of praise. The sketch, drawn by Sola's original character designer Naru Nanao to mark the end of Lucky Star and given away in the December 2007 issue of Comptiq magazine, was just recently auctioned off.

That's a level of dedication that I think pretty much all of us American fans can't match. Think about it: that's the salary for some people who worked on the Lucky Star anime! The drawing is really nice, and it's a cool interpretation of Kagami, but nothing more than I would have as a wallpaper, and certainly nothing that I would spend an appreciable amount of money for.

On the other hand, over at Anime Expo, Dale, Tim, and I took a walk through the art auction they had going, with some professional works in there -- priced more reasonably at $200-$700 -- and those I would be willing to drop money on and hang up in my house. I can't wait to win the lottery already...

Whether or not you think Lucky Star is overrated, no one can deny the series massive commercial success, especially not the people of Saitama prefecture. Lucky Star fans have injected obscene amounts of money into the local economy through tourism and merchandising. Washinomiya, the shrine of characters Kagami and Tsukasa in the series, saw its attendance figures increase by nearly triple from last year.

It's no surprise, then, that the prefecture has noticed, launching a multilingual website calling itself "Anime Land" earlier this year.  The "Prefectural Anime Tourism Investigative Commission" has been considering replacing local school uniform designs to match the ones worn by Konata and friends.

This step seems a little extreme to me. While one can definitely see money in selling Lucky Star-themed food and merch, the benefits of having students traipse around looking like moe blobs are more nebulous. It's not like otaku can buy the students...at least not legally. Plus, I prefer the more cosmopolitan designs shown in other anime and games. Does anyone know what real-life Japanese town inspired Persona 4? Someone needs to make those uniforms happen.

[Via ANN]

Well, last week's debate had an unexpected turnout; seems that the Great Teacher Onizuka has trumped the Yakuza Sensei Yankumi in our debate by a great margin. I could point out that the reasong for Onizuka's win was probably from the popularity of the GTO manga in the US. I kinda thought that Yankumi's wildly popular TV drama could level the playing field in this one outside Japan. Yankumi is still awesome in my book.

Yankumi Sensei - 10 votes

Onizuka Sensei - 43 votes

Zetsubou Sensei - 2 votes

Hit the jump for this week's rather grim debate!

This kind of thing shouldn't be surprising because we already know that Japan is full of really strange things. I don't know if this should be considered that weird but I guess the thought of the Lucky Star girls being used as an oil product isn't normal. Now you can power your engine with the power of moe!

This isn't just your normal oil, though. For those who hate the smell of oil, this Lucky Star Eco Oil comes in both a peachy and mint fragrance. It kind of makes you believe that this is just scented oil and not really oil for your car, doesn't it? It'll go on sale on June 20th and will cost 2,520 yen for a litre. Konata is nice enough to remind buyers that you shouldn't drink this kind of oil. But it doesn't say you can't spread it all over your body (which I'm sure some people will end up doing -- guh).